These Sea Salt Sprays Will Give You the Prettiest Beach Waves

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Summer is here and so is our collective desire to achieve mermaid-like beachy waves. (Say you don’t relate, I’ll wait.) Sure, there are hot hair tools out there designed to help you get that look, but a must-have product that’ll get you there without the heat damage? Sea salt spray. If you’re wondering what sea salt spray does for your hair, how to use one without making your hair sticky, and how to choose the best one for your hair type, I’m here with a refresher! A good sea salt spray will add beachy texture and lightweight hold to your hair, like you spent your day running around a wind-whipped beach. And finding the right one is where our Cosmo testing-and-reviewing process comes in.

Even though most sea-salt sprays have similar formulas (see: water, salt, and added extracts), some can be needlessly drying, while others can be surprisingly moisturizing. So to help you pick the best salt spray for your hair—whether you’re trying a straight-hair hairstyle or adding texture to your curly hair—we broke down the best-tested formulas with the most effective ingredients, below.

Now keep reading to see the full competition of sea-salt sprays and beachy-hair products, reviewed and tested under the Cosmo beauty team's expertise. Then, check out our helpful guide on what to look for in the best salt sprays and how to apply them to your hair.

Rockaway Salt Spray

The secret to getting people to compliment your hair? The R+Co Rockaway Salt Spray. No, but seriously though. After I (ahem, the name’s Meg Uy, associate shopping editor), applied this magic product to my naturally wavy, textured 2b hair before I headed into the office, I was praised for how incredible my hair looked by many coworkers. All I did was divide my hair into three parts—which was about 80% dry—, spray the product all over each section from roots to ends, and then gently scrunched my hair. Then, boom, I had the prettiest beachy waves. It did leave a bit of that sticky finish due to the salt, but regardless, I loved how it turned out!

This vegan spray with a paraben-, silicone-, and sulfate-free formula will give you the volume, bounciness, and overall, va va voom effect without using hair tools. And its fresh eucalyptus scent will have you wanting to spray it on just because—trust me!

• Key ingredients: cranesbill, yarrow plant extract, balm mint, sage, vitamin C

• Size: 4.2 fluid ounces

Glowing customer review: "I love this. I am someone who has a lot of fine hair with only a little natural texture, so it gets weighed down by itself and turns sad-looking really easily. I can fix this by blowing it out, but that takes about 80 years and I don't like to use a lot of heat anyway, so I only do it occasionally. But this is GREAT! I spritz it all through my hair after every shower and just let it air dry, scrunching occasionally as it dries. It adds a lot of volume and texture but looks a little too messy for me if I don't brush it after it's dried, but post-brushing, it just looks bigger, airier, lighter, and more textured—everything that I'm looking for to just be a little more polished and together without almost any effort. It's a little pricey, I can go through a bottle pretty quickly, but for it being my entire hair routine, it's worth it."

Sea Spray

Unsurprisingly, this near five-star rated option became an instant fave for shopping editor Hannah Oh. "First of all, the VERB sea salt spray has this amazing, nostalgic scent that makes me feel like I’m sitting on my grandma’s bed watching her get ready with the scent of hairspray filling the room," she says. "Second of all, the sprayer itself is really, really nice. It’s a fine mist that’s not too wet. I love spraying this all over my hair on days when I don’t have time to blow-dry my hair in the morning." Even with its natural sea salt-infused formula, Hannah confirmed it does not "feel simultaneously sticky and dry the way it does with ocean water."

Great for all hair types, this lightweight, paraben- and sulfate-free sea salt spray is all you need to get that easy, breezy, tousled texture you love after a long beach day...ya know sans the whole dunking your head in the ocean part.

• Key ingredients: green tea extract, natural sea salt

• Size: 6.3 fluid ounces

Glowing customer review: "I love this product for when I want a beach-wavy look to my hair without all the fuss. My hair stays soft and full without feeling crispy. I have used it for over 3 years...that says something!"

Volumising Sea Salt and Texture Spray

Assistant shopping editor, Jasmine Hyman, loves this sea salt spray that "tames and accentuates" her natural waves. FYI: It didn't add any extra waves, but it did keep her existing ones in place and stiffen them. She also loved that it gave her "that beach in a bottle feel apropos to its coconut-esque scent and wave-inducing saltiness."The only downside though? She found it to be a bit drying on her hair.

If you're on the hunt for a vegan and cruelty-free texturizing spray that'll instantly give you those fresh-off-the-shore, voluminous waves in a few spritzes, this will provide those results. It'll also define natural waves and curls without making them look hard and cemented.

• Key ingredients: Australian Himalayan sea salt

• Size: 6.76 fluid ounces
  

Glowing customer review: "Recently I got a shaggier haircut and I don't like using texturizing mousse because my hair gets crunchy. Someone recommended this to me instead and I love it! It makes my hair so textured without the crunch, and it refreshes it so I can go longer without washing I find. The scent is great too, not perfumy. I gave it 4 stars because the spray nozzle is almost TOO good lol and I have a hard time not choking on the spray if I'm doing it in my bathroom. I recommend spraying in a better-ventilated area."

Sea Salt Spray for Hair

If you just want a quick, one-and-done, click-and-buy, please-make-this-decision-for-me product, allow me to introduce you to this seriously excellent sea-salt spray from Beauty by Earth. And I’m not just saying that—it’s one of those rare unicorn formulas that works for virtually everyone. The spray is clean, cruelty free, vegan, made in America, formulated without parabens and dyes (if you're not into that), aaaand has more than 6,000 reviews on Amazon for its ability to add beach-y texture and definition on straight, wavy, and curly hair.

And, thanks to its mix of hydrating aloe vera and moisturizing shea butter and plant oils (castor, argan, and moringa oils), it won’t leave your hair feeling like straw, even with its salty base. The only decision you will have to make? Whether to grab this one in the citrus scent (which has a lighter-weight formula) or the tropical-coconut scent (which has a more moisturizing formula).

• Key ingredients (Tropical Coconut): aloe vera, Epsom salt, oils (castor, argan, moringa)

• Size: 6 fluid ounces

Glowing customer review: “I have natural wavy hair and sometimes it looks fuzzy and flat, but this product adds the volume back to it. I just wet my hair and spray; super easy way to style. And it smells sooooo good...like summer time on the beach.”

Argan Oil of Morocco Hair-Texturizing Sea Salt Spray

This drugstore sea-salt spray from OXG is arguably one of the most popular salt sprays to ever exist, and has more than 7,000+ rave reviews on Amazon to prove it. Why? Because its 11-ingredient formula is simple yet effective: Magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt) and sodium chloride (sea salt) work together to add beach-y texture to your hair, while a touch of argan oil keeps your hair from feeling too crunchy or stiff.

There’s technically no right or wrong way to use a sea-salt spray, but for me and my curls (which can easily get tangle from salt sprays), I like to spritz this one through my damp hair, blow-dry with a hair diffuser for volume, then twist it into a loose updo or fat braid.

• Key ingredients: magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt), sodium chloride (salt), kelp extract, argan oil

• Size: 6 fluid ounces

Glowing customer review: “I had nice beachy waves with hair I could still run my fingers through. It was soft and there was no oily or gritty feeling like I've gotten with some products. It also added the volume I was looking for."

Beach Babe Texturizing Sea Salt Spray

When you want major beach-y, piece-y texture, you turn to this best-selling sea-salt spray from Not Your Mother’s, which Cosmo beauty editor Beth Gillette describes as “very no-nonsense” in the ~salty~ department. “It sprays out in a super-fine mist, so you can really load it up on denser hair if you want, whereas I can just lightly mist it onto my damp hair, air-dry it, and then add some waves with a three-barrel waver or put my hair into braids,” says Gillette after testing. “I like that it gives me a little grit so my hair isn't so silky.”

• Key ingredients: sea salt, sunflower seed extract, kelp extract

• Size: 8 fluid ounces

Glowing customer review: “I have thin, fine, wavy hair and have used this product on damp or dry hair after showering every single time for over sever years, and it adds such amazing waves and texture. I’m someone who hates the feeling of hairspray, and this product feels like it helps bring out my waves and curls and sets them and keeps their shape all day and doesn’t feel gross like hairspray.”

Sea Spray Sea Salt Spray

Based on my completely made-up data analysis, half of the population—including myself—has tested Sun Bum’s cult-favorite sea-salt spray by this point in time (it’s basically the number-one answer to “what’s the best sea-salt spray” on Google/Reddit/my group chats). The first two ingredients of this formula are good ol’ water and salt to give your hair true ocean-like texture, along with a bit of charcoal powder to soak up excess oils for a matte finish. So even if you get hella sweaty in the summer sun, your hair will look purposely textured and messy, rather than a hot mess.

• Key ingredients: magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt), sea salt extract, charcoal powder

• Size: 6 fluid ounces

Glowing customer review: “I have really thin/fine hair and it gets oily so easily. Usually, when I let my hair dry naturally, it’s already oily by the time it’s completely dry, [but] this eliminates most of the oily texture and leaves my hair looking messy but cutely and naturally. Overall, this is an incredible product if you want a more natural way to style your hair.”

Superfoods Banana + Coconut Hydrating Soft Wave Texture Spray

If you were to combine a lightweight leave-in conditioner with a sea-salt spray, you’d get this formula from Briogeo. The tropical-scented spray is surprisingly hydrating for a texturizer, thanks to its mix of aloe leaf juice, glycerin, panthenol, and coconut sugar (yup, sugar—not salt) that help add “some much-needed moisture to your hair, while also keeping that beachy, matte texture,” says tester (and Cosmo beauty editor) Beth Gillette. “I feel like this would be especially good for spraying on after swimming in the ocean or a pool, when your hair feels like straw and you don’t have time to shower,” she notes.

• Key ingredients: coconut sugar, aloe leaf juice, mango juice

• Size: 5.75 fluid ounces

THE REVIEWS: “I love this product!” writes one tester. “I have 2c/3a curls and always let my hair air dry, [and] it really helps my hair dry less frizzy and gives more definition.” Another product reviewer agrees: “It gives my wavy hair the piece-y, tousled look that usually takes a day or two after washing to achieve. [My hair] feels super hydrated, but not weighed down or greasy.”

Guava Beach Waves Hair Texturizing Spray

If you’re into clean beauty—which, like, ideally all of us are—you need to try this salt spray from Ceremonia that smells like actual heaven (i.e., warm, zesty guava). The clean formula is made with natural ingredients derived from Latin America (an homage to founder Babba C. Rivera’s Latinx roots) and includes pink Bolivian salt, guava extract, and aloe. Just spritz it through damp or dry hair, focusing on your ends, then let air-dry for some piece-y, non-crunchy definition.

• Key ingredients: sodium chloride (salt), glycerin, guava extract, aloe leaf powder

• Size: 4.2 fluid ounces

Glowing customer review: “I have tried my fair share of salt sprays and wave-enhancing products, and this is by far my favorite. The scent is to die for, and it gave my hair perfect messy beach waves without any stickiness and without weighing it down. I typically use this by wetting already-dry hair and applying a generous amount (I shower at night so I just wet my hair in the shower in the morning, so it’s clean hair and also not saturated with water).”

Surf Spray

You can’t talk sea-salt sprays without mentioning the O.G. zaddy of the texture world: Bumble and Bumble’s Surf Spray that launched back in 2001—i.e., the salt spray that started it all. The original goal was simple: Concoct a formula that’ll give you the same cool texture you get after a day at the beach, without having to mix literal salt and water in a spray bottle (yes, that’s what people did back then). The result? This now-iconic formula that uses salt and kelp extract for the perfect amount of salty, textured grit on both wet and dry hair.

• Key ingredients: magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt), kelp extract

• Size: 4.2 fluid ounces

Glowing customer review: “I was looking for something to give my fine hair some extra texture to hold styles better. This is great! It's not nearly as sticky and crunchy as other salt sprays and a little goes a long way. I use this before blow drying and it gives my hair a nice texture and a piece-y look.”

This Is A Sea Salt Spray

Davines is one of my favorite sustainable beauty brands that was doing eco-friendly long before it was ~cool~. Not only is the Italian-born brand B Corp certified and the recipient of the “Best for the Environment” award, but its products are legit freakin’ good (like, I’ve spent my own money on them since high school, when I very much couldn’t afford them). This best-selling salt spray uses three types of salt to really, truly make your hair feel like it got soaked in the ocean, and it’s also one of the saltiest formulas we tried from this list.

Oh, and just because I think this is v awesome: For every plastic-packaged product that Davines sells in 2023—including this salt spray—an equivalent amount of plastic will be collected and removed from the coasts of Indonesia, Brazil, and the Philippines. We <3 blue beauty.

• Key ingredients: magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt), sodium chloride (salt), sea salt

• Size: 8.45 fluid ounces

Glowing customer review: “This product is a total game change. I'll never buy another product. I spray it on towel-dried hair, do a quick scrunch, and when it dries, I've got a great, effortless, natural-looking texture without the frizz. And unlike a lot of salt sprays, there’s no crunch and no grease.”

Bouncy Strength Volume Foam

If you have curly hair (hi, me, Chloe Metzger), you already know that sea-salt sprays + curls = a tangled, knotted, gritty nightmare. So when I’m wearing my natural curls and want a beach-y finish, I skip traditional salt sprays and instead reach for this texturizing foam from Curlsmith. It helps clump and define my curls without drying them out—ty, glycerin and water-soluble castor oil—while also adding some strength and structure with hydrolyzed rice protein. I just rake and squish a palmful of foam through my wet hair after showering, then air-dry.

• Key ingredients: hydrolyzed rice protein, hydrolyzed hemp seed extract, PEF-40 hydrogenated castor oil

• Size: 7.5 fluid ounces

Glowing customer review: “I love this curling foam. This one doesn’t make my hair super crunchy. It’s a lighter foam and it makes really good beach-looking waves. It’s getting warmer, so I’ve been using this for a beachy summer look. It smells amazing too.”

Salt Sea Salt Spray for Hair

I actually bought this Amazon best-seller last year for my boyfriend’s wavy hair (it’s technically a sea-salt spray for ~men~ but, like, what even is gender? Hair is hair, and salt is salt), and now I find myself borrowing it every time I need to add some texture to my flat-iron waves. The brand—which, fun fact, recently struck a deal on Shark Tank—is geared toward shorter hair types, but trust me (and the 2,500 reviews) when I say this salt spray can work for any hair that’s looking for some gritty texture.

• Key ingredients: magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt), sea salt, kelp extract, brown seaweed extract

• Size: 8.5 fluid ounces

Glowing customer review: “It smells great and your hair will stay styled without being stiff. Out of the three different sea-salt sprays I've tried, this is my current favorite. I use this after the shower to get rid of the frizz and give it a natural, tousled look. I always hated having neat hair, so this gives me a little bit more edge that I've always liked, without looking like there's tons of hair gel or product.”

What does sea salt spray do?

Sea salt spray adds gritty texture and definition to your hair, creating a similar effect to what you’d get after swimming in the ocean. Unlike other texturizing hair products that rely on a variety of powders, polymers, and 16-letter-long ingredients to create definition and texture in your hair, traditional sea-salt sprays use water and salt as their primary texturizers.

That’s not to say store-bought sea salt sprays are just two clean and natural ingredients (though many of them are clean products, like the Ceremonia Guava Beach Waves Spray). Instead, most formulas also contain a mix of lightweight moisturizers to offset dryness and/or ingredients to add volume or shine in addition to texture (like the Ogx Argan Oil Sea Salt Spray).

Does sea salt spray make hair wavy?

No, sea-salt spray won’t make your hair wavy if it’s not already naturally wavy (just like a curl product can’t make your hair curly if it’s naturally straight). Instead, a sea-salt spray works by “clumping” together sections of your hair and enhancing its natural texture, which can make wavy hair look wavier and more defined. So if you want beachy waves, you’ll need to grab a flat iron, curling iron, or hair-waver iron, and follow one of these beach-waves tutorials.

How to use sea salt spray:

How to use sea-salt spray will depend on your hair type and texture. But, in general, you’ll want to spritz your salt spray all throughout your very-damp hair, focusing on your mid-lengths to ends, before air-drying or diffusing. And if you’re starting with dry hair (like if you just created beachy waves with hot tools), you’ll want to lightly mist your dry ends, then twist and twirl sections of hair around your finger to help your waves clump together.

How to choose the best sea salt spray:

Avoid drying ingredients

Sea-salt sprays are naturally a bit drying, thanks to their salt-water base, so you’ll want to skip any formula that includes additional dehydrators, like alcohol, especially if you plan to use your salt spray every day. For our testing and reviewing purposes, we excluded any sea salt spray with a base of denatured alcohol or isopropyl alcohol, so you’ll be safe in whichever formula you choose.

Look for hydrators and moisturizers

No, there’s no sea salt spray in the world that’s going to hydrate your hair as well as a styling cream or leave-in conditioner, but there are formulas that either omit the drying salt altogether and/or use a mix of water-absorbing humectants and oils to keep hair from feeling like straw (like the Briogeo Superfoods Soft Wave Texture Spray).

Why trust Cosmo?

Megan Uy is an associate shopping editor who writes beauty at Cosmopolitan and has five years of experience writing about beauty, fashion, and lifestyle news, including reviews about the Shark SmoothStyle and the Shark Flexstyle. She regularly tests and analyzes sea salt sprays on her natually wavy hair. assess new treatments, formulas, and products. Her salt-spray picks were based on product reviews, ratings, and personal testing, She regularly tests and analyzes hair products for efficacy while working with the industry’s top hairstylists to assess new formulas and brands.

Chloe Metzger was previously the deputy beauty director at Cosmopolitan with nearly 10 years of experience researching, writing, and editing haircare stories in print and digital, including the best hair straighteners and the best hair-dryer brushes. She's an expert in all hair categories, but especially sea-salt sprays and texturizing products, thanks to a lifetime of testing formulas on her own thin curly hair. Her salt-spray picks were based on product reviews, ratings, and personal testing, along with information from experts.

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